There are several reasons why I like to read other runners' race reports. No ultra race is the same, and every runners perspective is unique. An ultra is almost always a challenge, and there is bound to be ups and downs with problems to be overcome. Sometimes it's a spectacular fail, and sometimes it is a hard fought personal victory.

Race reports come in all shapes and flavours. They can be short or long. They can contain information that is useful for others who are aspiring to do the same race later, or no such thing at all. A good race report, in my opinion, is often both fun to read and inspirational. These reports ofte convey more of the inner processes and feelings that the runner went through along the way.  

I haven't written many race reports myself. Maybe I will do more in the future. In that case you will find them here.  

 Moon Valley 17 Lakes 

 Race date: 14-Aug-2021 


When only eight runners showed up, six of them in short trousers although cold was rain pouring down, and the organizers did a pre-race meeting warning us about 'knowing your limitations', I kind of knew that this was going to be one of those races worth a race report!

Moon Valley Run Festival has a lot going for it. With Kilian Jornet and Emelie Forsberg as ambassadors, nice prices (NOK 10 000 to the winners!), and a really enthusiastic local society backing the race. And of course they is this spectacular nature, with lakes and mountains like we are spoiled to see them in Romsdal. However, the post cards only show the sunny version of this nature. In real life there are all kinds of weather. Come race day 14th of August 2021: Rain, rain, and more rain. Down to 6 degrees Celsius at the points of highest elevation. Some reduces visibility at times. Not exactly the dream scenario.

I woke at 04:30. Everything was put in place the day before, so within 20 minutes I had got my coffe, my breakfast, gear and stuff into the Defender and took off. 30 minutes of driving, and I was ready to pick up my bib. Nine runners had signed up for the 17 Lakes run. Twenty-something for the shorter 7 Lakes race. Many foreigners had been forced to withdraw because of Covid-19 restrictions. The line up was therefore pretty thinned out already. The firs of the nine 17 Lake runners dropped out already the night before. The weather forecast was enough, with a yellow danger symbol on yr.no and all!

Start signal went off a 06:05. I started my garmin watch with 'execute track', but something was obviously wrong because the track didn't show up on the map. This resulted in a wrong turn after just 200 meters! After almost doing yet another mistake within the first hour, I decided I had to stop and fix the watch. A restart, and then all was working. A deep sigh of relief. The race follows trails for some of the way, but large parts are also off trail, and with no trail markers. Although this was my third time, I would not feel sure to find the right way to go if visibility dropped - as it surly could on such a rainy day. 

The start was brutal with one hour of steep climbing. The rain made every path into small trickles and streams, and everything was slippery and wet. One runner called it quits already here, and headed back to the start. Then we were seven.

I decided that this was not the day to go all in and push for the best result possible. I started conserving energy in the ascents, and making sure I didn't rush downhill in order to have safe descents. Together with brand new and solid rain gear, this actually boded for a reasonably good race experience. The rain never quit, it just varied from a drizzle to a pour, all day. But wind was (mostly) not a problem, temperature was (mostly) not a problem, and visibility stayed (mostly) good. So, what's not to like? Well, as it turns out: Quite many things!

Even in good race conditions, The Moon Valley 17 Lakes is a brutal race. On paper it's only 59 km and +/- 4200 m of ascent/descent. That compares pretty well with Meråker Mountain Challenge, with its 63 km and +/- 4000 m. But even if MMC has a lot of myr (marsh and wetlands) and is considered to be quite hard, my PB is 25 percent faster there than for Moon Valley 17. The technical parts are what slows you down. The murderusly steep ascents and the boulder areas in particular. The rain made these parts even more challenging.

So you would think that when I strained my ancle it would be in one of those boulder areas. Of course not. That happened right after the last food station, when I was relaxed and the terrain was flat. Actually, everything went quite well until the last food station. My race time was only five minutes behind my PB at that point, so clearly I was in good shape and that outweighed the bad conditions. I was in third place, only 15 minutes behind second and another 15-30 (?) behind first. 

I began to run in the deep puddles to cool down my ancle. Problem solving - the key to ultra racing! Next problem: Low battry on my garmin watch. My watch is getting old with reduced battery quality. And the 'execute track' mode is quite battery intensive. And as much as I love my garmin, I hate the fact that the charging port is on the back of the watch. To add insult to injury, the charging cable has started to fail to connect properly. All this means that charging while running is a true pain in the ass! First of all, I have to carry the watch in my hand. Which means I must stow away my poles (I'm adicted to poles!) and charge mainly when terrain is flat (which it never is!). Then I must wiggle and pray to get the charging cable to connect. This proved at first to be impossible. Until I discovered that my power pack had to be turned on to work. Why could it not work as soon as something was plugged in - like any other normal power pack? Beats me.

In total, I had to charge my watch four times! When the new Garmin Fenix 7 is realeased I will be first in line to buy one. This will hopefully save me considerably time and frustration the next time I need to 'execute track' for more than 6 hours! 

Next problem: The last steep hill to the highest point of the race, and deteriorating weather. The hill up towards Trolltinden is more like a wall. It just keeps getting steeper and steeper, until you feel you're banging your forehead into the hill when you lean forward to take the next step! The clouds now hid the upper parts of the mountains, and it was impossible to know much was left of this hellish climb. The guy in front of me obviously had problems following his gps (if he had one) and got lost. He returned to the last food station and DNFed. Then we were six.

The four last runners got to the last food station six minutes before the cut-off time, and left exactly at the cut-off. I'm really happy for them, cause two of them came just 15 minutes to late last year! One of the runners however was so cold he was shivering and had to be helped even to get his gloves on. Been there, done that. Now I put on an extra layer to stay (reasonably) warm!

At the last checkpoint I was told I was in second place and 45 minutes behind the lead. 45 minutes later I crossed the finish line, but now more than an hour behind. My superior had clearly hammered down that last downhill in stupendous fassion. I met him at the prize ceremony, and he was looking much more battered than me, with stiff legs and a bandaged patch below one of his knees. He told me he was doing the UTMB TDS next week. I fear he's going to regret that last downhill surge...

After the race I put all my wet clothes and gear in a sack, and it must have been close to 10 kg. That is 10 kg of weight that I had carried for most of the race, in addition to the challenges of wet terrain. So a race time just seven minutes behind my PB is very satisfactory. And my body feels quite good, all things considered. I consider this a good lesson. I'm less worried about facing a rainy day the next time around; I know what I should do in order to handle it well. But of course, I hope this is knowledge that I don't have to put to use too often!


Meråker Mountain Challenge 2013 - min tur


Plopp, slurp. Lyden av en fot som forsvinner til knes i myra. Ikke for første gang, og sikkert ikke siste i løpet av denne turen. Men hva var det? Antydning til gnagsår? En kvist i skoa som skal stikke og plage meg resten av turen? Og fortsatt 60 kilometer igjen!

Dette var tanker som meldte seg halvannen time etter at starten hadde gått for MMC 2013. Etter tre timer var jeg betydelig redusert og langt fra optimist. Ytterligere to timer senere ville de fleste delene av kroppen min helst være et helt annet sted enn midt inne i Meråkers fjellheim. Men da var det like langt fram som tilbake, og ikke noe alternativ å snu. Som om det i det hele tatt ville ha falt meg inn. For tross alt; sola skinte, naturen var fantastisk - og dette var gøy! Så kom regnet. Så kom tordenværet. Så kom tåka.

Meråker Mountain Challenge - MMC blant venner - går under betegnelsen "vandrerløp". Det er en konkurranse for de som vil ta seg så raskt som mulig over 70 kilometer med fjell og myr og under veis passere 9 av de 26 tusenmeterstoppene som ligger i Meråker kommune. Løpet har en ekstremvariant for de virkelige ultragærningene hvor man fortsetter over de resterende 17 toppene. "Normaldistansen" er også åpen for spreke mosjonister som starter 4 timer før konkurranseløperne og hvor det er helt akseptert å overnatte under veis.

Etter å ha trent litt mer enn gjennomsnittet de siste 3-4 åra var jeg i fjor inne på tanken om å melde meg på MMC - en nyskaping som da ble arrangert for andre gang. Men på grunn av begrensninger i deltakerantallet - max 25 fikk stille til start - så kom jeg aldri lenger enn ventelista. Like greit antagelig, for været var visst ufyselig i 2012. I år var imidlertid både værmeldingen og deltakerantallet på min side, og jeg benyttet et sinnsvakt øyeblikk i lunsjen på fredag til å melde meg på løpet med start på lørdag klokka tolv. 24 timers forberedelse måtte  holde.

Jeg ankom Teveltunet sent fredag kveld og ble tatt imot i "base camp" og forsynt med matpakke og instruksjoner. Sov godt i siste ledige rom på Teveltunet Fjellstue og våknet til frokost neste dag. For en amatør som aldri hadde løpt mer enn 30 kilometer i ett strekk før så var det viktig å søke råd og informasjon blant øvrige deltakere. Mange fra kretslaget på ski - trent av Hallgeir Lundemo - var til stede, og noen skulle også delta i løpet. "Det er viktig å spise en stor og god frokost" var rådet fra den kanten. Det hjalp meg lite. Jeg klarer bare ikke å spise mengder med mat tidlig om morgenen.

Bjørn Tore Taranger
Da var det mer å hente hos Bjørn Tore Taranger. Ultraløpkongen var ikke helt på sitt favorittunderlag forstod jeg, men rådene var likevel nyttige: "Gå i motbakkene", "spis og drikk hele tiden" og "sørg for at du aldri fryser" kom på forståelig Bergens-dialekt og hørtes veldig fornuftig ut. Jeg fikk også tips om bruk av kompresjonsstrømper, men det får jeg komme tilbake til i et senere blogginnlegg hvor vi tar for oss utstyr.

Hallgeir Lundemo
Hallgeir Lundemo himself var reisepartner i båten over til Guddingsvika, og hans råd var "fukt skolissene før du knyter dem - ellers går de opp", og "dette blir rått!". Sistnevnte ikke så mye et råd, men mer et uttrykk for Hallgeirs sinnsstemning. Han virket så veltrimma og gira at jeg tror han hadde løpt på vannet hvis båten ikke hadde kommet for å hente oss!

Vel framme ved starten i Guddingsvika var det et mindre antall løpere i ulik alder og status som stilte til start. Anslagsvis 10-12 stykker stod på startstreken, hvorav Taranger og Lundemo var de to største profilene som skulle løpe ekstremvarianten, mens Slethaug og Maske ble holdt for å være de sterkeste i forhold til normaldistansen  med målgang på Teveltunet.

Selv følte jeg meg i godt lag med sambygding Paul Håkon Almås. Paul, som i likhet med meg fant ut at sofaen var et dårlig sted å tilbringe middelalderen og i stedet begynte å trene og delta i alskens konkurranser midt i 40-åra. For øvrig var det en del ungdommer på startstreken. Og en enslig dame: Tonje Nilssen fra skikretslaget til Hallgeir. Hvis hun fullførte ville hun vinne både spurtpris og førstepremie, så der var nok motivasjonen på topp.

Nøyaktig klokka tolv gikk startskuddet. Rett opp lia mot Hermannsnasa bar det. En knapp time senere var toppen besteget for min del - gode ti minutter før stipulert skjema. Så var det bare å ta fatt på løpets lengste transportstrekke: 21 kilometer i myr og via Kråkfjellet - en topp som for øvrig ikke "teller". Delvis fordi løypa ikke går via selve toppen, men hovedsaklig fordi toppen uansett ikke er over 1000 meter og dermed altså ikke er verdt å besøke slik jeg tolker filosofien til dette løpet.

Her sees topp nummer 2 og 3 på turen. 
Storsjøhøgda til venstre og Kjølhaugen til høyre

Det var altså på dette transportstrekket at de første negative tankene meldte seg. Ikke for det - lenge var de eneste bekymringene mine at sola kunne gjøre meg solbrent, samt at jeg hadde lagt igjen bilnøklene mine i bussen på vei til start.

Heldigvis satt det en gjeng på Kråkfjellet med drikke og Bixit-kjeks og oppmuntrende ord om at "nå er du halveis på turen til neste topp". Det viste seg å være noe optimistisk anslått. For det første var den andre "halvdelen" lenger enn den første, men viktigere: Der man i første halvdel løp 400 meter nedover skulle man nå 400 meter oppover. Det er forskjell det. Og nå hadde jeg i tillegg rusk og rask i skoa og mistanken om gryende gnagsår å tenke på - bare avbrutt av  bekymring for tapte nøkler og solbrent skalle.

Etter knappe 4 timer ble jeg så møtt av et surrealistisk skilt: "Spurtpris 1500 meter"! Om jeg vurderte å spurte? Ja, faktisk. For bak meg kom det en konkurrent som konstant hadde ligget 5-6 minutter bak, men som nå var i ferd med å ta meg igjen.


1500 meter senere nådde jeg på toppen av Storsjøhøgda et lite minutt før Tonje Nilssen kom inn som vinner av kvinnenes spurtpris. Vi slo lag nedover bakken igjen, men i oppoverbakkene viste Tonje seg som den sterkeste. Imidlertid tok jeg henne igjen i nedoverbakkene, og derfor løp vi forbi hverandre en 5-6 ganger i løpet av de neste 3-4 timene. Men vi løp også mye sammen, og det må jeg si var veldig motiverende. For i denne fasen av løpet nådde kroppen et slags bunnpunkt. Etterpå ble det på et vis ikke så mye verre. Det gikk kanskje saktere og saktere, og spesielt i oppoverbakkene, men nå ble det mer en konstant mental utfordring. Terrenget gjorde det ikke lettere. Opp og ned i fjellterreng ispedd ei og annen myr. Flott natur, men ikke veldig løpsvennlig. Og enda var det langt til mål...

Etter fem timer begynte det å regne. Bare litt lett yr og duskregn til å begynne med, så det var ikke spesielt plagsomt. Så begynte det å tordne rett øst for oss. Det kan da ikke være lurt å fly på fjelltopper i tordenvær! Men heldigvis gled de truende skyende riktig vei, og etter hvert ble det stort sett slutt på regnet igjen. Det lysnet, og etter ca åtte timer kom jeg opp på Blåberga som var siste fjelltoppen før Angeltjønnhytta. På hytta visste jeg at det ventet lapskaus og husrom hvor man kunne få både mental og fysisk restitusjon hvis det var behov for det. Og det var det.

Jeg spurte karen på toppen av Blåberga hvor langt han mente det var til Angeltjønnhytta. "Nei det kunne ikke være langt" mente han, "du ser jo vatnet der nede, og der ligger hytta. 3 kilometer kanskje?". Dermed satte jeg av gårde med godt mot og en teori om at hytta bare var 15-20 minutter unna. Etter 20 minutter passerte jeg Tonje. Etter 40 minutter begynte jeg å lure på om bakken aldri skulle ta slutt. Og etter en time måtte jeg fram med kartet. Jeg skal ikke være for skråsikker, men distansen Blåberga - Angeltjønnhytta må i alle fall være 10 kilometer. Stol aldri på en forfrossen funksjonær på toppen av et fjell!

I hytta ble det imidlertid lapskaus, og forsikringer om at de resterende 25 kilometer ville gå på tre tiimer. Klok av skade la jeg inn sikkerhetsmargin og beregnet nærmere fire timer. Dermed ble målsettingen nå justert til å komme i mål på under 13 timer. Den målsettingen holdt bare i en halvtime, for på vei opp til Midtiklumpen kom tåka sigende. Derfra og inn ble det leiting etter løypemerker og deltakere i turklassen som tok det meste av tida.

Drøye fem timer tok det siste strekket, men det var mindre viktig. Under veis plukket vi opp et par turgåere som hadde kommet vekk fra løypemerkingen, hvorav den ene hadde lagt av gårde i shorts og tynn trøye uten ekstra klær. Jeg tror aldri overtrekksbuksa mi og ullgenseren min har vært så velkomne noen gang!

Vel nede på Teveltunet ventet målsnøret, spesieltfor Tonje som gikk i mål som vinner av dameklassen. Selv følte jeg meg som en vinner i min egen private klasse. Jeg hadde gjennomført med stil, og kroppen var slett ikke ødelagt på noe vis. Jeg fikk dusjet og byttet om, og bilturen hjem gikk også greit. Halv fem på morgenkvisten kunne jeg krype under dyna til kona og sovne mens tusenvis av orange prikker danset foran øynene mine: Det var den fantastiske løypemerkinga til Hallgeir & co som hadde brent seg fast på netthinna.


Lessons Learned from My First Marathon

Race day: October 2013

I'm just back from Italy where I ran the Lake Garda Marathon and spent the best of a week on vacation in what must be one of the most beautiful places in the world. Here’s what I learned from running my first full marathon: Don’t try to predict your time in advance. There is only one way to find out how fast you can run a marathon, and that is to actually run it! 

Those of you who read my previous blog entry have seen my feeble efforts to predict the finish time for my first marathon. At the end of those calculations I ended up with a goal of running under 3 hours 15 minutes. Two weeks before the race I did a 27 km trial run, and decided I could not possibly keep the necessary pace. So I dropped my goal to 3:20 – not much, but 10 seconds per km is significant enough.

On race day I felt good. The conditions looked perfect with 15 degrees Celsius, overcast and very little wind, and the course seemed inviting with its flat profile. Lake Garda Marathon was looking to be a perfect place to run my first marathon. Nice scenery and not to “professional” with less than 500 runners entering the marathon distance, mostly Italians but also a few from other countries including 4-5 from Norway.

The start gun fired a couple of minutes behind schedule, and I found a good back to follow; a sturdy guy from Vicenza Runners as far as I could read from his T-shirt. The first 7-8 km went amazingly fast and easy. I was at a 4:20 pace, indicating a finish marginally over 3 hours!

Then the course turned back on itself, and it became obvious that we had started with a tail wind which now had picked up and now became a really nasty head wind. I had no one close behind, so I decided it was important to keep the back of my Vicensa comrade. The problem was that this guy didn’t seem to notice that the wind made any difference. He kept on going in the 4:20 pace, and my pulse inexorably went from pretty OK, to strained, to critically high.

At 14 km I decided I had to change tactics. I had covered a third of the marathon in 4:20 pace, and my brain was beginning to pick up the message that my body was shouting at me; this was much faster than I could sustain. I tried to fall back and find someone at a 4:45 pace, but only partly succeeded. Of course, at this point I was running among the best 10% of the pack, and no one was interested in a lousy 4:45 tempo...

I clocked 1 hour 33 minutes at half point, 21 km. That was only 6 minutes behind my personal best for a half. No celebration though: I was slowly realizing that it was going to be a challenge to even finish this race.

I set my mind on keeping a decent pace up until 28 km. That would mark two thirds of the race completed. My pace started to oscillate between 4:45 and almost 6 minutes when allowing a bio break. I passed 28 and made it through 30 k before I really met The Wall. Much can be said about The Wall. I have no doubt it was a great concert experience, but there is nothing great about it's marathon name brother. With 12 km to go, I was seriously questioning if I could finish the race however much I wanted to. 

At 33 km I needed to walk for the first time. At 38 km I was fighting to keep around 7-8 minues per km, and everything was going the wrong way. At the 38 km mark I as number 99, and when I finally finished it was as number 129. I only found some last reserves for the final leg thanks to the 41 km mark being misplaced, fooling me into thinking I was nearly done.

My finish time was 3 hours 35 minutes. If you think you can do better even if you have never run a marathon before then please give it a try!

I think a sub 3:30 marathon would have been quite achievable if I had run a slower first half. But I don’t think my calculated 3:15 or better was really realistic. I haven't run very much on hard, flat surfaces. I think terrain and fell running is much less injury prone. Not to mention much more fun. My legs are still hurting one week after the asphalt experience in Lake Garda. And I have already said those same words that have been uttered by so many before: I will never, never, ever run a full marathon again. But let me add, at least not on flat asphalt!

 Moon Valley 17 Lakes 

 Race date: 14-Aug-2021 


When only eight runners showed up, six of them in short trousers although cold was rain pouring down, and the organizers did a pre-race meeting warning us about 'knowing your limitations', I kind of knew that this was going to be one of those races worth a race report!

Moon Valley Run Festival has a lot going for it. With Kilian Jornet and Emelie Forsberg as ambassadors, nice prices (NOK 10 000 to the winners!), and a really enthusiastic local society backing the race. And of course they is this spectacular nature, with lakes and mountains like we are spoiled to see them in Romsdal. However, the post cards only show the sunny version of this nature. In real life there are all kinds of weather. Come race day 14th of August 2021: Rain, rain, and more rain. Down to 6 degrees Celsius at the points of highest elevation. Some reduces visibility at times. Not exactly the dream scenario.

I woke at 04:30. Everything was put in place the day before, so within 20 minutes I had got my coffe, my breakfast, gear and stuff into the Defender and took off. 30 minutes of driving, and I was ready to pick up my bib. Nine runners had signed up for the 17 Lakes run. Twenty-something for the shorter 7 Lakes race. Many foreigners had been forced to withdraw because of Covid-19 restrictions. The line up was therefore pretty thinned out already. The firs of the nine 17 Lake runners dropped out already the night before. The weather forecast was enough, with a yellow danger symbol on yr.no and all!

Start signal went off a 06:05. I started my garmin watch with 'execute track', but something was obviously wrong because the track didn't show up on the map. This resulted in a wrong turn after just 200 meters! After almost doing yet another mistake within the first hour, I decided I had to stop and fix the watch. A restart, and then all was working. A deep sigh of relief. The race follows trails for some of the way, but large parts are also off trail, and with no trail markers. Although this was my third time, I would not feel sure to find the right way to go if visibility dropped - as it surly could on such a rainy day. 

The start was brutal with one hour of steep climbing. The rain made every path into small trickles and streams, and everything was slippery and wet. One runner called it quits already here, and headed back to the start. Then we were seven.

I decided that this was not the day to go all in and push for the best result possible. I started conserving energy in the ascents, and making sure I didn't rush downhill in order to have safe descents. Together with brand new and solid rain gear, this actually boded for a reasonably good race experience. The rain never quit, it just varied from a drizzle to a pour, all day. But wind was (mostly) not a problem, temperature was (mostly) not a problem, and visibility stayed (mostly) good. So, what's not to like? Well, as it turns out: Quite many things!

Even in good race conditions, The Moon Valley 17 Lakes is a brutal race. On paper it's only 59 km and +/- 4200 m of ascent/descent. That compares pretty well with Meråker Mountain Challenge, with its 63 km and +/- 4000 m. But even if MMC has a lot of myr (marsh and wetlands) and is considered to be quite hard, my PB is 25 percent faster there than for Moon Valley 17. The technical parts are what slows you down. The murderusly steep ascents and the boulder areas in particular. The rain made these parts even more challenging.

So you would think that when I strained my ancle it would be in one of those boulder areas. Of course not. That happened right after the last food station, when I was relaxed and the terrain was flat. Actually, everything went quite well until the last food station. My race time was only five minutes behind my PB at that point, so clearly I was in good shape and that outweighed the bad conditions. I was in third place, only 15 minutes behind second and another 15-30 (?) behind first. 

I began to run in the deep puddles to cool down my ancle. Problem solving - the key to ultra racing! Next problem: Low battry on my garmin watch. My watch is getting old with reduced battery quality. And the 'execute track' mode is quite battery intensive. And as much as I love my garmin, I hate the fact that the charging port is on the back of the watch. To add insult to injury, the charging cable has started to fail to connect properly. All this means that charging while running is a true pain in the ass! First of all, I have to carry the watch in my hand. Which means I must stow away my poles (I'm adicted to poles!) and charge mainly when terrain is flat (which it never is!). Then I must wiggle and pray to get the charging cable to connect. This proved at first to be impossible. Until I discovered that my power pack had to be turned on to work. Why could it not work as soon as something was plugged in - like any other normal power pack? Beats me.

In total, I had to charge my watch four times! When the new Garmin Fenix 7 is realeased I will be first in line to buy one. This will hopefully save me considerably time and frustration the next time I need to 'execute track' for more than 6 hours! 

Next problem: The last steep hill to the highest point of the race, and deteriorating weather. The hill up towards Trolltinden is more like a wall. It just keeps getting steeper and steeper, until you feel you're banging your forehead into the hill when you lean forward to take the next step! The clouds now hid the upper parts of the mountains, and it was impossible to know much was left of this hellish climb. The guy in front of me obviously had problems following his gps (if he had one) and got lost. He returned to the last food station and DNFed. Then we were six.

The four last runners got to the last food station six minutes before the cut-off time, and left exactly at the cut-off. I'm really happy for them, cause two of them came just 15 minutes to late last year! One of the runners however was so cold he was shivering and had to be helped even to get his gloves on. Been there, done that. Now I put on an extra layer to stay (reasonably) warm!

At the last checkpoint I was told I was in second place and 45 minutes behind the lead. 45 minutes later I crossed the finish line, but now more than an hour behind. My superior had clearly hammered down that last downhill in stupendous fassion. I met him at the prize ceremony, and he was looking much more battered than me, with stiff legs and a bandaged patch below one of his knees. He told me he was doing the UTMB TDS next week. I fear he's going to regret that last downhill surge...

After the race I put all my wet clothes and gear in a sack, and it must have been close to 10 kg. That is 10 kg of weight that I had carried for most of the race, in addition to the challenges of wet terrain. So a race time just seven minutes behind my PB is very satisfactory. And my body feels quite good, all things considered. I consider this a good lesson. I'm less worried about facing a rainy day the next time around; I know what I should do in order to handle it well. But of course, I hope this is knowledge that I don't have to put to use too often!